That's very sad news for the port of Harwich.
New sulphur rules cause closure of the Harwich-Esbjerg ferry route
DFDS' historic passenger ferry route between Harwich and Esbjerg has been struggling for a long time with high costs, loss of passengers and freight being switched to road transport. The route is therefore unable to bear the substantial additional costs that a new environmental law will entail. It will close on 29 September 2014. DFDS is now gathering its efforts to secure the major freight route between Esbjerg and Immingham and the many jobs that this route also generates.
Unfortunately, 29 September will mark the end of an era and the possibility of sailing directly from Harwich to Esbjerg, Denmark, on the historic ferry route that opened in 1875 with the inauguration of the port of Esbjerg.
The loss of tax-free sales and increasing competition from low-cost airlines mean that passenger numbers have fallen from 300,000 to around 80,000. Transport of industrial cargo between the UK and Denmark has also declined.
DFDS has worked hard to cut costs on the route to make it more competitive. Among other tactics, the route was changed into a combined freight and passenger service, the number of crew on board was reduced, slow steaming was introduced to save fuel, the number of departures was decreased and centralised sales tried to increase passenger numbers with aggressive marketing. "But unfortunately we haven't been able to reduce costs enough to enable the route to bear the very high additional costs of around
Topic: DFDS to stop Esbjerg to Harwick route (Read 3825 times)